Scary future?

Vice President Sara Duterte just confirmed our worst fears for our country’s future: she is running for President in 2028.

- BOO CHANCO

She is ill-prepared for the challenges of the job. She couldn’t even handle the Department of Education (DepEd) for a year.Informed of the news, BBM reportedly said “Good luck.” Asked by reporters if BBM was being sarcastic, the Presidential Spokesperson said she couldn't tell. I guess, BBM was saying, “Good luck to the country.” That I can understand.

Our tragedy is the absence of a viable candidate to run against her, one who is everything that our current politicians are not: honest, patriotic, intelligent and able to run our government in the most transparent manner. No Mary Grace Piattos.

It is difficult to think that a country of over 100 million many of whose citizens have proven their capability to successfully run world class corporations and organizations abroad is unable to put up one candidate that will for the first time run this country right.

Then again, even if Filipinos accidentally elect a very capable person with high ethical and moral values, well trained in the art of statecraft and with good executive skills as the next president, what can he or she really do to correct over 70 years of corruption and mismanagement?

Indeed, we should probably first revise the Constitution and try a parliamentary form of government. The presidential system has failed us. We elect a president and the senators for six-year terms and during that time, they can steal from the Treasury all they want and don’t have to worry about being thrown out of office.

A parliamentary system gives us the opportunity to reset things if the Prime Minister or the party in power fails us. A simple vote of no confidence is all it takes to start fresh.